The difference between the best of big-school Class 5A and small-school 1A was evident in the first half as Hahnville and Southern Lab squared off Friday night at the Ed Reed River Parish Jamboree. The Tigers raced out to a 35-0 lead en route to a 42-12 victory.

“At first (I was skeptical) when he said triple-option as a quarterback,” Neal said. "(But) when you practice it and execute it there’s so much you can do out of it and I love it now.

“We had a great week of practice, we came out, we executed and this is what I expect my team to do when we come out and play football.”

Neal accounted for four scores including runs of 2 and 10 yards while finding Georgia Tech commit Brandon Singleton and Rickey Preston for touchdown tosses of 15 and 22 yards.

Devonte’ Cravin got the scoring started for Hahnville with a 39-yard touchdown run and Preston racked up over 100 yards rushing and receiving.

“We just utilized all of our tools and we did what the coach told us to do,” Preston said. “I love (the offense), I love it. I’m getting touches, everybody’s getting touches, we’re all doing good right now.”

Southern Lab quarterback Bladrick Veal found some rhythm in the second half as he finished 8-for-11 in the last 15 minutes. The 6-foot-5 signal-caller found Xavier Bell for a 37-yard completion on third-and-long and the two later connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to finish off the drive.

The Kittens’ defense also finished the second half strong and Joseph McWilliams had an electrifying kick return to end the first half going over 80 yards for a touchdown.

“(McWilliams) is a special athlete,” Southern Lab coach Nick Mitchell said. “He came off the field at halftime, puked his guts out at halftime and said ‘alright coach, I’m ready for the second half.’ We’ve got to find warriors like that. In order for us to be a successful football team, we’ve got to have 22 warriors.

“We came out a little flat, we had nine starters out ... I’m not pleased with the fact that we lost but it was a great learning experience for our guys and we’ll be better.”